Tag Archives: Atlantic 10

Mar 30 2013

Postgame thoughts: UMass softball sweeps St. Bonaventure in doubleheader

The UMass softball team swept St. Bonaventure in its doubleheader at Sortino Field today in a close 6-4 win in the first game and 12-4 mercy-rule pounding in the second. Here are some of my thoughts:

  • If you missed the games, you can get stats from UMassAthletics, and also be sure to be on the lookout for my highlight reel of the games, which should be on dailycollegian.com some time tonight, as well as Kaitlin Boyer’s recap article, which should be in the paper and on the site on Monday.
  • More offensive explosions from the Minutewomen. Two games, 18 runs, four homers, 21 hits. Does not get much more explosive than that.
  • Since the team started conference play against Dayton, UMass has scored 44 runs in 5 games (8.8 runs per game), the exact same number of runs they scored in the 17 games they played in Florida and California (2.59 runs per game). If this new trend is any indication, we should be expecting more explosiveness from the UMass bats as the season goes on, which should make the season pretty fun to watch.
  • Caroline Raymond looked like a real No. 1 starter in the second game. She struck out six hitters, allowed only four hits and two walks, and had a no-hitter going through the first three innings. Unfortunately, one hanging curveball with two runners on is all it takes to almost make it a disaster, and that 3-run shot in the sixth by Christine Watson almost allowed the Bonnies to come back on Raymond. But Raymond kept her composure and struck out Hali Enderby right after to end the inning.
  • Emma Mendoker put in a solid performance of her own in the first game. She was not as dominant as Raymond, but she showed great ability to handle high pressure situations. She left 13 St. Bonaventure runners on base (to put that in perspective, the Minutewomen stranded five in that game) and only gave up four runs despite giving up seven hits and seven walks.
  • UMass catcher Samantha Gray got her first hit of the season with a solo shot in the second inning of the first game. That must have taken some of the pressure off, because she got another hit in the second game that drove in a run. She also made a spectacular diving catch on a pop-up bunt to end the third inning of the second game.
  • The defense could still use some improvement. They committed four errors behind Mendoker in the first game. Mendoker is a pitcher who primarily gets hitters out through groundouts (16 of the 18 people she got out through her six innings of work in the first game grounded out), so she needs a good infield behind her. With Taylor Carbone already at 10 errors at second base this season, Teea Rodgers at 13 at third, and Quianna Diaz-Patterson at 19 at shortstop, it is clear the defense needs to improve if Mendoker is going to succeed this season.
  • The Minutewomen will next be traveling to Storrs to take on UConn in a nonconference game on Tuesday. Be sure to check out the preview articles written by myself and Joey Saade, to appear in the Collegian and on the website on Tuesday.
Mar 16 2013

Pregame notes: UMass vs. VCU (Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinals)

UMass point guard Chaz Williams takes the ball up the court against VCU in the two teams' meeting back on Feb. 14. Photo courtesy MCT

UMass point guard Chaz Williams takes the ball up the court against VCU in the two teams’ meeting back on Feb. 14. Photo courtesy MCT

NEW YORK — Greetings once again from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the sixth-seeded UMass men’s basketball team is set to take on second-seeded Virginia Commonwealth this afternoon in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

GAME NOTES

  • To put it bluntly, the first time these two teams met back on Valentine’s Day wasn’t exactly ideal for UMass. After the Minutemen took a five-point lead into halftime, VCU turned up its “Havoc” defense to a ridiculous level and opened the half on a 21-1 run en route to an 86-68 blowout victory in Richmond, Va., and it wasn’t even really as close as the score indicated.
  • For the Minutemen, it’ll be helpful to know exactly what to expect from the Rams, but how that translates on the court is a different story. They have much less time to prepare and are coming off zero rest after back-to-back wins over GW and Temple on Thursday and Friday, the latter of which an exhausting affair that will leave them fatigued as they tip just 17 hours after.
  • VCU is coming off an 82-79 victory over 10th-seeded Saint Joseph’s on Friday night.
  • The winner of this one will take on the winner of the other semifinal game between top-seeded Saint Louis and fifth-seeded Butler in tomorrow’s championship game.

PROJECTED STARTERS

  • UMass: Chaz Williams | Freddie Riley | Terrell Vinson | Sampson Carter | Cady Lalanne
  • VCU: Darius Theus | Rob Brandenburg | Troy Daniels | Treveon Graham | Juvonte Reddic

Be sure to follow along on Twitter with Stephen Hewitt @steve_hewitt and Stephen Sellner @Stephen_Sellner for live updates from the Barclays Center.

Mar 15 2013

UMass advances to Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinals with 79-74 win over Temple

UMass center Cady Lalanne pumps his fist in the air after the Minutemen's thrilling victory over Temple on Friday night at the Barclays Center. Photo courtesy Atlantic 10 Conference

UMass center Cady Lalanne pumps his fist in the air after the Minutemen’s thrilling victory over Temple on Friday night at the Barclays Center. Photo courtesy Atlantic 10 Conference

NEW YORK — It turns out the UMass-Temple rivalry saved its best for last.

Behind a huge performance from point guard Chaz Williams — 28 points — and a clutch 3-pointer from Terrell Vinson with 26 seconds left that sealed the victory, the Minutemen advanced to the Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinals with a thrilling 79-74 victory over the Owls on Friday night at the Barclays Center.

With the win, UMass advances to face Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Mar 15 2013

Pregame notes: UMass vs. Temple (Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals)

Trey Davis raises his hands in joy during UMass' 77-72 triumph over George Washington in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Thursday night. Photo courtesy Atlantic 10 Conference

Trey Davis raises his hands in joy during UMass’ 77-72 triumph over George Washington in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Thursday night. Photo courtesy Atlantic 10 Conference

NEW YORK — Greetings again from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the sixth-seeded UMass men’s basketball team is set to take on third-seeded Temple tonight in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

GAME NOTES

  • Could it really have ended any other way? The storied rivalry — at least in Atlantic 10 play — seemed to have come to an end in the two teams’ Feb. 16 meeting, an 83-82 Owls victory. But here we are in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, where these two teams have had some all-time battles.
  • Last season, UMass and Temple also met in the quarterfinals of this tournament. Then, the eighth-seeded Minutemen upset the top-seeded Owls in come-from-behind, thrilling fashion.
  • Right now, Temple comes in as one of the hottest teams in the conference. The Owls have won seven in a row since their win over UMass, including last Sunday’s Senior Day victory over Virginia Commonwealth.
  • The man to watch for, undoubtedly, is Temple guard Khalif Wyatt, the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and of whom the Owls’ offense runs through. The senior led the conference with 19.9 points per game and had five games when he scored at least 30 points, and he scored 24 against the Minutemen. It’ll be hard to stop him, so UMass will need to make sure it does everything else well to come out with a win, most importantly, controlling the defensive glass, where they were pounded one night ago by George Washington, which secured 50 total rebounds and 25 offensive boards.
  • The game will not be nationally televised. Instead, those in western Massachusetts can catch the game on CBS 3 Now, and those without that option can catch it on Atlantic10.com’s free stream.
  • The winner of this game will play the winner of the game between No. 2 VCU and No. 10 Saint Joseph’s.

PROJECTED STARTERS

  • UMass: Chaz Williams | Freddie Riley | Terrell Vinson | Sampson Carter | Cady Lalanne
  • Temple: Khalif Wyatt | T.J. DiLeo | Scootie Randall | Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson | Jake O’Brien

Be sure to follow along on Twitter with Stephen Hewitt @steve_hewitt and Stephen Sellner @Stephen_Sellner for live updates from the Barclays Center.

Mar 14 2013

Pregame notes: UMass vs. George Washington (Atlantic 10 Tournament first round)

Stephen Sellner/Collegian

Stephen Sellner/Collegian

NEW YORK — Greetings from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the sixth-seeded UMass men’s basketball team takes on No. 11 George Washington tonight in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

GAME NOTES

  • In a rematch of the Jan. 19 meeting at the Mullins Center, the Minutemen look to avenge their 79-76 loss to the Colonials, a game in which UMass clawed its way back from a 16-point second half deficit before coming up just short.
  • The winner of tonight’s game will take on third-seeded Temple in the quarterfinals, which is Friday night at 9 p.m.
  • GW was finishing the season on a low note, at one point losing four in a row, but will come into tonight riding a little bit of momentum after beating Dayton in overtime in its regular season finale. Colonial big man Isaiah Armwood flew in for a put-back dunk with just two seconds left in that one to give GW the narrow win and avoid missing out on the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
  • The two players on GW to look out for will be Armwood and guard Joe McDonald. McDonald had 16 points and 10 assists in the first meeting against UMass, which to date is still the freshman’s only double-double of the season.
  • Tonight’s game will be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network. For a channel guide, click here.

PROJECTED STARTERS

  • UMass: Chaz Williams | Freddie Riley | Terrell Vinson | Sampson Carter | Cady Lalanne
  • GW: Joe McDonald | Kethan Savage | Patricio Garino | Kevin Larsen | Isaiah Armwood

Be sure to follow along on Twitter with Stephen Hewitt @steve_hewitt and Stephen Sellner @Stephen_Sellner for live updates from the Barclays Center.

Mar 12 2013

Chaz Williams named to Atlantic 10 first team

Taylor C. Snow/Collegian

Taylor C. Snow/Collegian

UMass point guard Chaz Williams was selected to the Atlantic 10 first team on Tuesday as the conference released its end of season awards for the 2012-13 men’s basketball season.

Williams, a junior, led the Minutemen and the conference with 7.6 assists per game to go along with his 15.4 points per game. He joins Temple guard Khalif Wyatt, who was named the A-10 Player of the Year, La Salle guard Ramon Galloway, Butler guard Rotnei Clarke and Saint Louis forward Dwayne Evans as the other selections on the first team.

Here’s a complete list of all the awards given out:

Continue reading →

Mar 9 2013

UMass to face George Washington in first round of Atlantic 10 tournament

With Butler’s victory over Xavier earlier tonight, UMass has earned the No. 6 seed and will take on No. 11 seed George Washington at 9 p.m. Thursday night in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The game will be nationally televised on the NBC Sports Network.

If the Minutemen were to advance, it’s up in the air at the moment on who they would play in the quarterfinals. If Temple wins its game tomorrow against Virginia Commonwealth, it would earn the first round bye and No. 3 seed in the tournament. But if the Owls lose, La Salle would then earn the No. 3 seed and await the UMass-GW winner. That quarterfinal game would be on Friday and also at 9 p.m.

But to even get to the quarterfinals, the Minutemen will need to get through a Colonials team that they lost to earlier in the season at the Mullins Center. GW led by as many as 16 points in the second half of that game before UMass stormed back and cut it to one, but the comeback fell short in a 79-76 loss on a day that Marcus Camby’s number was retired.

The rest of the first round for the A-10 tournament is almost set. Here’s a look at what we have now. In bold are teams that can’t change their position regardless of tomorrow’s Temple-VCU result. In parentheses are their A-10 records.

1) Saint Louis (13-3)
2) VCU (12-4)
3) La Salle (11-5)
4) Butler (11-5)
5) Temple (10-5)
6) UMass (9-7)
7) Xavier (9-7)
8) Richmond (8-8)
9) Charlotte (8-8)
10) Saint Joseph’s (8-8)
11) George Washington (7-9)
12) Dayton (7-9)
13) St. Bonaventure (7-9)
14) Fordham (3-13)
15) Rhode Island (3-13)
16) Duquesne (1-15)

A-10 TOURNAMENT

(8) Richmond
9) Charlotte
Thursday, noon
Winner plays (1) Saint Louis on Friday at noon

5) TBD
12) Dayton
Thursday, 2:30 p.m.
Winner plays 4) TBD on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

7) Xavier
10) Saint Joseph’s
Thursday, 6:30 p.m.
Winner plays 2) VCU on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

6) UMass
11) George Washington
Thursday, 9 p.m.
Winner plays 3) TBD on Friday at 9 p.m.